Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood
 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...renthood-flap/

What do you think of The Komen Foundation's Decision to withdraw funding from Planned parenthood?

In a nutshell, as I understand it, The Susan G Komen foundation used to grant funds to Planned Parenthood who -in addition to their "planning parenthood" activities- offer breast screening and health examinatins to lower income young women. Many conservative/right thinkers have issues with Planned Parenthood from an anti-abortion and even anti-contraception POV

SGK say the grants were withdrawn because they have implemented stricter policies about granting money to organizations who are under investigation of any kind (as PP is), but the liberal/left/cynics say this is a just a smoke screened way to bow into pressure for the right and is all about anti-abortion politics.

What do you think? Does it affect you in anyway -are you a supporter of either organization and does this change how/who you will support in the future?

I didn't realize PP offered services outside of family planning. I also thought Komen was all about research into a cure rather than detection. But I guess that is part of finding a cure?

I don't support either of these particular organizations financially, so I guess I haven't really thought about either of them very closely before. But I am inclined to entertain the cynical view more favorably than SGK's official "stronger performance criteria for our grantees" line.

My view here

A tactical move by Komen's new anti-abortionist vice-president.
A strategic management error by the Komen foundation.
A fatal message to some women who rely on Planned Parenthood

I favor the cynical view too. I haven't looked too closely into it, but my understanding is that a Republican congressman started the investigation into Planned Parenthood. My belief is that his action was just to be a pain in the ass, and that there was no actual indication that PP was doing anything wrong. Just slimy politics, which is unfortunately part of the game. For Komen to use that politically motivated investigation as an excuse to cut off funds is a political move in my mind. So Komen gets moved from the pigeonhole in my mind of being a good charity to being a political organization. They join the NRA and others in that pigeonhole. I've contributed to people doing the Race for the Cure before, but I doubt I'll do that again.

Oh, and in the paper this morning, I saw that donations to Planned Parenthood were up and had mostly covered the shortage already. And that the leader of Komen claims that donations for Komen are up too. So maybe there is no such thing as bad publicity.

I also read that the person who made the decision to pull funding resigned today.

And it looks like someone hacked the Komen Foundation website yesterday, replacing a message about their latest upcoming marathon with the statement, "Help us run over poor women on our way to the bank."

I favor, vehemently, all of you who favor the cynical view.

"Keep your laws off my body."

Women who once supported and lauded the Komen Foundation are cutting up pink ribbons.

It's very sucky.

Ummm.... Maybe the person that resigned is not the same person who made the decision to cut funding to PP.

MSNBC
By DAVID CRARY
2/23/12

Top Komen official resigns in protest over grants cuts

Also, it is being reported on TV right now that Komen is reversing the decision,
and will re-instate funding to PP.

This is a very good tactical and strategic management decision.

The pro-life base can be very passionate about their views and I'm sure they are much more willing to support Komen because of this.

Yes and no. They saw a very strong increase in donations since they decided to cut funding to PP. On the other hand, they completely polarized their potential donators. Depends on which way you look at it.

If that's true, that's bad too. As a liberal, I'm still pissed at Komen, and the conservatives who might not have known about their PP contributions in the past (I myself had no idea) are going to be pissed at them now too at this reversal. Instead of pissing off half the country, they will equally piss off everyone. Not a good way to raise donations.

Whoever is behind this should never be in a position of power in a large organization again. What a clusterfuck for Komen. They will no longer be relevant.

I wonder if they did any good anyway. They raised a lot of money over the years, but are we any closer to a cure? And where did all that money go? Maybe Komen should be investigated.

Bold mine.

Although the phrase "criminal and conclusive and not political" seems pretty objective, but I doubt they'll ever erase the stain of politics. They made a serious move, and it turned out to be a mistake.

It does look like the funding will be restored, though the part about letting the local affiliates make funding decisions seems... fraught.

I was astounded when I heard about this. I'm a PP supporter, not only because I am pro-choice, but because they offer healthcare services to poor women. To take funding away from them for breast cancer screening is inexcusable.

Komen has become a right-wing fog shop and I wont participate. My money will go to other cancer fighting organizations.

Salon has an article about that. And there is a documentary coming out too...

Rule of thumb: if a charity event is established for "awareness" it means they aren't serious.

In my opinion, it's too late for Komen to pacify those who have withdrawn support. According to friends on FB, although Komen denied doing so, they were definitely scrubbing their page clean of negative comments. I would seriously doubt that their donations were, in fact, up, since this debacle began. If they were, I'd tend to think they were one-time or first timers and the withdrawal of support has yet to be measured fully.

I won't be participating in their races....ever.

From Clod's link to Salon's article above

Hey, I don't mind being mistaken for Clod, it's a compliment.

Well they did get in bed KFC and supposedly their executive salaries are high compared to other charities. I think their ethical priorities are being questioned by almost everyone right now.

See, it's another senior moment :redface:

Oh, ew! The sheets would get all greasy!

I'm glad they reversed their DeFetus attitude.

;)

Darn, when I heard that one of their top execs had resigned, I thought it was Handel, who deserves to be shown (thrown) the door for this stupid stunt.

As usual, it's the ethical person who leaves in protest, leaving the snakes in charge.

TV talking heads are reporting that Karen Handel has left Komen organization. :rolleyes:

Yes, I heard that this morning as well. And that she'd left in a huff over the incredibly exaggerated and mistaken assumptions about the Komen Foundation's motives, still proclaiming that they were in no way political.

a duck walking, duck quacking, pink be-ribbonned horse of a different color, or something. Not political? Sure, honey, sure.

She keeps it up and she can run for president in 2016. ;)

FWIW:

Reuters
2/7/12

(From the Salon article)

Noble work? I don't think so. I'd mistakenly went to one of those crisis-pregnancy centers when I was in high school. I can say first-hand, there's nothing noble about creepy, self-righteous nuts pretending to be medical professionals, and showing teenagers photos of bloody fetuses. As I got up and walked out with my then-boyfriend, the woman stopped him and begged "Please don't do this!" What an all-around, offensive experience that was.

That is the suck! Sounds about what I'd expected. You can name anything pretty names, don't make it so. Grrrrrr.

Thanks for pointing that out, blue.

Thank goodness that Handel bee-yotch is out. I wonder where she wanted to re-directed the funding she cut off from Planned Parenthood...hopefully not the bogus crisis centers, ugh.

Is that codespeak for 'I resigned five minutes before they said they would fire my ass'.

First she would have to go rescue some vegetable in Florida - a prerequisite for the 'right' credentials.

Finger-lickin' good!

Terrible. Back to the play-center with you!